


Rappelling Isn't Very Princesslike

by butthulu



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, fairytale, princess in a tower, princess rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 12:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19062754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butthulu/pseuds/butthulu
Summary: “You know,” says Kanaya, conversationally. “You climbing out the window rather defeats the purpose of the locked door meant to keep you in. You are aware of that, yes?”“Absolutely. I should care why?” Rose is half in, half out, struggling to fit through the tiny window frame. Her hand clutches, white-knuckled, at a rope fashioned from her bedsheets and the dresses she absolutely does not care for. (They’re all too bright, none of them the dark colors she favors.) She’s calculated the distance from her window to the ground, and measured the length of the rope, and judged that, eh, give or take a few feet, she’ll be fine. If it’s too short, she won’t break any bones from the fall.





	Rappelling Isn't Very Princesslike

“You know,” says Kanaya, conversationally. “You climbing out the window rather defeats the purpose of the locked door meant to keep you in. You  _ are _ aware of that, yes?”

 

“Absolutely. I should care why?” Rose is half in, half out, struggling to fit through the tiny window frame. Her hand clutches, white-knuckled, at a rope fashioned from her bedsheets and the dresses she absolutely does not care for. (They’re all too bright, none of them the dark colors she favors.) She’s calculated the distance from her window to the ground, and measured the length of the rope, and judged that, eh, give or take a few feet, she’ll be fine. If it’s too short, she won’t break any bones from the fall.

 

Kanaya snorts. “Because it is the duty of a princess to wait patiently for someone to unlock the door.” The tone of her voice indicates what she thinks of  _ that. _ “Although I suppose you’re not particularly princess-like, are you?”

 

Rose rolls her eyes. “Oh, no! What clued you in, Kanaya? The fact that I-” With a grunt, she manages to wiggle free. She falls for a moment, until her grip catches her. It hurts, but it’ll be worth it. “The fact that I tend to wear breeches and I’ve cut my hair short with a knife? The fact that I  _ very _ much earned the title that got me landed here? The fact that I’m  _ not _ waiting patiently for someone to rescue me, as if I need or desire rescue?”

 

“The fact that you’re rappelling down the side of your tower, Rose. Most princesses don’t even know what rappelling is.”

 

She laughs. “Ah, yes. Trust you to pick out the most, ah, obvious of reasons.” A foothold crumbles underneath her, and she slips, swearing loudly and violently. She sees Kanaya wince, and scoffs. “Oh,  _ please _ , Kanaya. Like you haven’t heard worse.”

 

“Just because I’ve heard worse doesn’t mean I enjoy hearing more of it, milady,” she replies, watching Rose regain her footing. “If you fall, would you prefer that I catch you, or allow you to fall and swiftly shuffle off the mortal coil, as you’ve bemoaned that you’d like to do so many a time before?”

 

Rose is maybe a quarter of the way down the tower. Curse it for being so  _ tall _ . That is the point, though; not just anyone can “rescue the princess”, and she supposes the height of the damn thing is a deterrent in itself, moreso than, well. 

 

Other reasons. 

 

“Just because I’ve stated the desire to die doesn’t mean I’d actually like to do it,” Rose sighs, letting a few more feet of “rope” slip, and hopping down the side of the tower. “It’s a nuanced thing, depression. You wouldn’t understand, I’m sure.”

 

“Hm,” is all Kanaya says to that, for a good long moment. The sounds of Rose’s huffs and grunts of exertion fill the air, and Kanaya watches. By the time she says anything else, Rose is halfway down. She’s stopped to rest, having tied the rope around her waist and pulled a canteen from her belt to take a drink. She looks down, and immediately regrets doing so.  _ Gods _ , that’s a long way down. Why did she think this was a good idea, again?

 

Oh, right. Because she doesn’t have any other option.

 

Kanaya finally speaks. “Are you also aware that I’m obligated to return you to your tower upon your escape?”

 

“That’s kind of the point of you being here, Kanaya, so, yes. However, I would like to posit a counterquestion: are you  _ going _ to stop me? Return me to my gilded prison, to life in isolated misery like a good little princess? That doesn’t seem like you at all.”

 

There’s another snort from Kanaya, a sign that she’s carefully considering the question, despite Rose’s little barb against her. “No,” she hums. “I suppose I won’t. After all, who is going to tell  _ me _ what to do? Who can?”

 

_ That _ gets a smile out of Rose, and she unties herself and resumes her journey down the tower. “Well, you seem to like it when I do it.”

 

“That is  _ not _ the point I was trying to make, Rose.”

 

Rose giggles. “Still. You can’t deny that if I told you to sweep me off my feet, to be the one to rescue me from this life of abject boredom, you’d do it in a heartbeat. The only reason you’re not doing so is because I asked you not to. I wanted to do this under my own power, although….” She looks down again, and shudders. “I’m actually starting to rethink that position. I am…  _ very _ high up. How do you handle this, constantly? Thousands of feet in the air, under your own power, nothing below you to catch you if you fall?”

 

“Dragonyyd instincts,” Kanaya answers, looking far too smug for a creature who cannot physically smile. “Would you like me to come get you? I can save you the journey. At this rate, you might even make it by nightfall.” 

 

“Oh, ha ha,” Rose grumbles, making another few hops. She pauses for a moment, then says, “This thing is  _ absurdly _ tall. How on earth does it not crumble under its own weight?”

 

Kanaya nudges a pile of rubble at the bottom of the tower with clear distaste, wrinkling her nose. “I’m not so sure it isn’t. I cannot believe they put you in this decrepit old thing. The standards of the nobility really are falling lately.”

 

“Something to be thankful for, if it makes it this easy to escape this thing. Seriously, I’ve literally fashioned a bedsheet and clothing rope. That’s the oldest trick in the book! How did they not see this coming?”

 

Kanaya’s tail flicks in agreement, and mild irritation. “People do have an alarming tendency to underestimate you. You’d think they would have learned by now, given that you’re a witch.”   
  
Rose is down to the last quarter of the tower, now. She replies glumly, “A witch whose power is sealed. I cannot wait to get to a tattoo artist- and I’m  _ still _ cross that you won’t just cut through the binding array.”   
  
“I’m not going to give you a scar across your entire back, Rose. That’s unreasonable, and you know it. At best, I might cripple you. At worst, I might sever your spine, and you’d be left with a much bigger problem than your sealed magic.”

 

“What’s  _ unreasonable _ ,” Rose counters, scowling, “is binding a witch’s magic. Honestly, who even does that anymore? It’s barbaric.”

 

“Your family, apparently.”

 

Rose just grunts in agreement.

 

An hour later- an hour which is passed in silence- Rose’s feet touch the ground, and she sighs in relief, letting herself fall into the grass and feel it under her fingers for the first time in a year. She picks a flower and lifts it to smell it, and another happy sigh slips past her lips. “Gods, I missed the ground.”

 

Kanaya leans over her, casting a shadow over her and sending refracted emerald light skittering across the ground and Rose’s face. Rose smiles, and lifts a hand to her cheek. “Hey.”

  
“Hello, yourself, dear.” 

 

“I got here before nightfall.”

 

It earns Rose a chuckle, and Kanaya shifts, laying a much more humanoid- though not entirely so- form down next to her. She props herself up on an elbow, gazing down at Rose with unabashed adoration in her eyes. “That you did, and entirely without my help. I should reward you, but with what?” She taps her chin in feigned ignorance, a smile on her lips. One of her fangs pokes out over her bottom lip.

 

Rose smiles, and tugs her down into a brief kiss. She murmurs, “I can think of a few things.”


End file.
